572 
EDITORIAL. 
rally  ranges  them  under  their  scientific  name,  and  gives  the  vulgar  names 
after.  The  specific  characters  then  follow,  then  the  history  including  habitat, 
parts  used,  and  chemical  characters,  followed  by  an  account  of  the  medical 
properties  and  uses.  A  striking  feature  of  this  part  of  the  work,  is  the 
almost  total  absence  of  references  to  authorities  or  discoverers,  unless  they 
be  Eclectic  ;  a  stranger  to  the  subject,  glancing  over  these  pages,  would  sup- 
pose the  Eclectics  were  a  highly  scientific  and  learned  body,  that  they  had 
extensively  investigated  the  chemical  relations  of  their  Materia  Medica  ; 
but  this  arises  from  the  fact,  that  the  author  rarely  gives  credit  to  chemical 
writers  and  investigators.  Long  processes  for  new  principles,  complex 
arrays  of  constituents,  and  intricate  reactions,  are  numerously  given  with- 
out allusion  to  their  authors,  (in  most  instances,)  unless  they  be  eclectics, 
when  they  are  brought  forward  in  bold  relief.  The  injustice  of  this  course, 
and  its  egotistical  results,  deserve  to  be  pointed  out.  The  author,  at  the 
conclusion  of  the  preface,  acknowledges  his  indebtedness  to  a  long  list  of 
works,  as  the  U.  S.  Pharm.,  U.  S.  Dispensatory,  Pereira,  Christison,  Dungli- 
son,  Mohr  and  Redwood,  Journal  of  Pharmacy,  etc.  etc. ;  but  the  discov- 
erers and  observers  themselves,  who  have  given  time  and  talent  to  eliminate 
the  knowledge  of  facts,  are,  in  general,  left  unnoticed.  One  of  the  chief 
difEculties  of  the  author  of  a  Dispensatory  is  to  investigate  the  accuracy  of 
chemical,  botanical  and  therapeutical  statements,  and  to  give  the  authorities 
upon  which  they  rest,  that  the  reader  may  satisfy  himself,  if  disposed  ;  or 
subsequent  authors  consult  the  original  memoirs.  But  our  eclectic  author 
feels  satisfied  to  declare  results  and  make  assertions,  leaving  the  reader  to 
believe  or  doubt  his  statements  without  redress.  One  of  the  most  promi- 
nent features  in  that  part  of  Dr.  King's  work  which  is  strictly  eclectic,  is 
the  account  of  the  44  principles,"  "resinoids,"  or  41  concentrated  remedies/7 
which  are  adopted  in  their  practice.  Their  nomenclature  of  these  substances 
is  entirely  adverse  to  chemical  science,  inasmuch  as  it  conveys  the  idea  of 
distinct  neutral  proximate  principles ;  when,  in  most  instances,  they  are 
merely  complex  associations  of  distinct  principles,  in  which  one  or  more 
predominate,  and  they  seem  to  have  got  the  idea,  that  to  purify  an  organic 
principle,  is  to  strip  it  of  its  therapeutic  power.  "Why  then  is  not  extract 
of  bark  stronger  than  quinine  or  cinchonine?  or  crude  resin  of  jalap  more 
effective  than  jalapin?  Perhaps  no  one  of  the  eclectic  remedies  has  been 
more  extolled  than  the  resin  of  podophyllum  peltatum,  Dr.  King  claims  the 
discover}''  of  the  therapeutic  value  of  this  resin,  which  he  had  used  in  an 
impure  state  some  eighteen  years  ago.  Wm.  Hodgson,  Jr.,  had  previously 
isolated  this  resin  in  a  modified  state  ;  but  its  true  nature  and  place  among 
chemical  principles,  was  not  discovered  until  John  R.  Lewis  proved  its 
close  analogy  to  jalapin  in  being  insoluble  in  ether;  Mr.  Lewis,  who  made 
his  experiments  in  the  summer  of  1846,  under  our  directions,  isolated  podo- 
phyllum resin  in  a  colorless  state,  and  we  well  remember  when  he  impru- 
dently took  six  grains  of  it,  producing  bloody  stools,  griping  and  vomiting 
with  much  debility.  Our  author,  at  page  ix.  of  his  preface,  remarks,  44  but 
unfortunately  for  the  purity  and  medicinal  activity  of  Lewis's  podophyllin, 
